The Jets put 8 guys in the box which pretty much shut Ricky & Ronnie down. They dared the Dolphins to beat them with Chad Henne ... and the Dolphins nearly pulled it off.

Quote:

Key for Dolphins not Henne or Marshallby Tim Graham

Last week's AccuScore report gave a clear formula for the Miami Dolphins to win.

If Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams rushed for more than 100 yards, then the Dolphins were dominant favorites to beat the New York Jets. If they couldn't hit triple digits, then the Jets were strong favorites.

Brown and Williams combined for 82 yards, and while the Dolphins kept the game close, AccuScore's forecast held up. The Dolphins lost at home despite a prolific night from quarterback Chad Henne and receiver Brandon Marshall.

AccuScore isn't diverting in its assessment of Monday night's game against the New England Patriots in Sun Life Stadium. The Patriots are allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 69.4 percent of their passes for an average of 260.4 yards a game. But the run game will remain crucial.

Jenny Dell explains when Brown and Williams hit 100 yards in AccuScore's 10,000 computer simulations, the Dolphins won 77 percent of the time. When they're held to under 100 rushing yards, the Dolphins' chances dipped to 30 percent.

The AccuScore forecast is for the Patriots to win a virtual coin flip.

The Jets put 8 guys in the box which pretty much shut Ricky & Ronnie down. They dared the Dolphins to beat them with Chad Henne ... and the Dolphins nearly pulled it off.

We need to rid ourselves of this misnomer. They started with all kinds of guys in the box. Once we started to light them up (our 3rd offensive series), they weren't doing that anymore. By the second half, they were essentially playing cover 2.

We could have run if we tried later in the game, but we didn't try because we were throwing the ball up and down the field on them. That and our defense couldn't make a stop so we were always playing catchup.

I would like to see us run the ball a bunch every game. As the quoted article shows, it's how we're built. When we run well, we win most of the time, and we can't run the ball well if we don't run the ball.

_________________A good RB is nice, a good QB even better, but it's best to be able to stop someone first.

The article is flawed, though. The loss has everything to do with the defense.

Yes, I agree. You can't give up 31 and expect to win.

But we cannot simply separate the offense from the defense and call it a day. If we try and run the ball just a little bit more, we get more clock (not to mention more mauling and beating up) which may have affected a Jets scoring drive somehow in our favor.

_________________A good RB is nice, a good QB even better, but it's best to be able to stop someone first.